Technology, Media, and Democracy

Catalog description

This course evaluates the role of the information ecosystem in contributing to the health of our society with the goal of developing ideas and tools that can help citizens be equipped with the knowledge and information required to address the challenges that we face. Specifically, the course examines the socio-technical aspects of our information ecosystem and how they may hinder, or challenge, the functions of society in particular in representative democracies such as the United States. Key topics include (a) how the design of platforms, algorithms, monetary models, and online communities impacts our information ecosystem; (b) the challenges for credible and trustworthy information ecosystem and how can they be addressed; (c) the breadth of abuse and adversary online from mis- and disinformation to online harassment, including the types of abuse, the adversarial actors online, what are they goals, methods, and how they can be countered.